“Take this.” The boy hands me what looks like a very small remote control with a single red button on it. “If anything bad happens, if you want to leave, press the button. I will come to you.”
I take it. “Don’t you have surveillance cameras inside so you’d know if something happens?”
“No,” the boy says. “Inspector Dormouse asked for your privacy. Unless...”
“He is right,” I say. “I better have no one watch me interrogate him.”
“Great. Would you like to go out somewhere after this?”
Wow. Where did that come from?
“I killed my last boyfriend.” I am not lying.
“So cute.” The boy doesn’t give up. “I don’t mind if you kill me.”
“Listen.” I sigh. “You look like a nice guy. Seriously, you don’t want to know me. I talk to a flower that spits on me. I have fear of mirrors because of a large rabbit inside it. And again, some days I wake up crippled.”
“Wow.” He is admiring me more. “You’re insane.”
“There, you said it.”
“I love insane girls.”
I sigh. I don’t know how to shake him off. “No you don’t. Like, for instance, you know Fabiola, the renowned nun in the Vatican?”
“Of course. Lovely lady.”
“I watched her kill people inside the Vatican,” I say. Strangely, this seems to offend the boy a little. “With a Vorpal Sword. She fights like Jackie Chan and slits throats like a samurai."
“You’re funny.” The boy takes a step back. His mouth twitching now. “A little bit weird, though.”
“Haven’t I told you from the start?” I smirk, feeling like I am possessed by the Pillar. “Now, would you like to kiss me?”
The boy frowns. Totally put off by me.
“Nice.” I am happy. “Is there anything else I need to know before I enter to meet Professor March?”
"Not at all. In fact, I'm totally convinced you're his niece now."
Chapter 31
Time remaining: 18 hours, 44 minutes
Professor Jittery sits at the steel table in the room. It’s bolted to the floor. The first thing I see when I step inside is that his hands are handcuffed to a chain connected to the table.
I step in slowly and look at him. He looks like a human version of a March Hare, if you unleash your imagination. Long grey hair dangling on both sides instead of rabbit ears. A grey beard, untrimmed, like he is about to write the next Lord of the Rings. His face is scruffy, and his cheeks are a little bubbly.
I don’t know if I am unconsciously comparing his image to the book, or if I’m actually starting to remember things. What really clinch it for me are his big eyes. Bulgy. Curious. Big. They’re almost popping out with all the madness in the world.
He is wearing a white straitjacket, but with hands that are untied.
“Do I know you?” he says, hands palm down on the table.
“My name is Alice.”
His eyes look like they’re about to get watery. A certain sparkle invades them. “I once knew a girl named Alice.”
“But it’s not me?” I hesitate, still standing, questioning if I am ever going to know if I am the Real Alice.
Professor Jittery watches me for a moment, as if he can’t tell. “Well, I was cursed not to recognize her face ever again, but no.” He shakes his head. “You’re not her. My Alice would have taken me in her arms and kissed my ears.” He lowers his head, looking at his chains. He seems sad. “I think she is dead, but I am not sure.”
I find it strange he is opening up to me so fast. Maybe it’s because he’s been locked away here for so long. There is no point in holding anything back. “Sorry to hear that.” Sorry to hear I am dead. Or sorry to hear she is dead, and that I am not Alice. Or sorry for anything that doesn’t make sense anymore. “Someone sent me to meet you,” I begin.
"Who?"
"A man who claims to be the Hatter."
His left eye twitches. "I don't who that is."
"Whether you do or don't, I really need your help.” I want to ask him why he is locked away, but I am not sure how much time I am allowed with him. My priority is to find the rabbit.
“I can’t help anyone.” He shrugs. “Because I can’t help myself.”
“That’s not what the Hatter—I mean whoever led me here—thinks.”
His eyes widen. But he says nothing.
"He stuffed a bomb inside a rabbit and let it loose in the city.” I talk slowly so he understands every word. “To find it, he has been sending me clues with a deadline. His last clue was to come and see you.”
“Why me?”
“He said you know where to find a place called the Snail Mound. I should find the rabbit there."
"Do you realize how confused you are?" he says. "One time you say the rabbit is all over the city, and the other time you say it's in this Snail Mound."
"I know it doesn't make sense, but I can't risk not following the clues and waking up tomorrow with children exploded because of that bomb."
"Children?"
"He sent me a video with children playing with the rabbit."